college

But as God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk. 1 Cor. 7:17

This is “thin ice” material for an administrator of a traditional, academic track school to be writing. I am not alone in giving voice to this concern, however, and think I find myself in good company. Janie B. Cheaney brings up the subject once again in the Sep. 20 issue of World Magazine. A previous article in the Spring about the “diminished returns” of some college degrees evidently stimulated a strong response. Cheaney writes, “The subject seems to be a hot-button issue among Christians of a certain age: young adults or older adults with teenage children. The ‘Go-To-College’ steamroller that gained traction after the G.I.Bill has begun to slow down as the cost-effectiveness becomes more questionable. Charles Murray, author of Real Education: Four Simple Truths for Bringing America’s School Back to Reality, put it bluntly in a recent Wall Street Journal article: ‘For Most People, College Is a Waste of Time.”

Most of my familiarity with this issue stems from discussions with and observing the lives of a number of early 20-somethings. These went dutifully off to college, successfully earned their degree, and now are back home, rootless, and struggling to find both themselves and a real job. It seems there is not much of a market for psychology majors, English literature majors, or History majors. Even business majors are struggling. These newly minted graduates, who did everything we asked them to do, are now waiting tables, working at Panera Bread, or treading water with two or three part-time jobs. They live cheaply with friends or family, sleep over garages or on front porches, and spend their spare time “hanging out” with friends in similar situations. And they wait. They wait for fate to carry them someplace they know not where. In the meantime, they have college loans to pay off that make my first mortgage look like a football wager.

College can be a formative experience and a gateway to a professional career, no doubt. But far too many wander down that lane with no plan or goal in mind. They emerge burdened with debt and no marketable skill. In the mean time, there are numbers of clearly focused youth who discover that there are many skilled trades that offer worlds of opportunity and only take half the time and expense of a traditional four year degree. This is not the same world as when I went off to college. Today, there are a number of different angles to be worked in preparing for a fully independent life of service and blessing.

Janey Cheaney highlights just a few of these. Homeschoolers and fast-trackers can now explore opportunities for dual credit in the latter high school years. CFC is looking closely at this as we contemplate adding our high school program. Testing out of pre-requisite courses and dual credit can drastically cut the cost and length of an academic program especially through the use of a low cost community college. But even then, a plan should be pre-eminent in thinking about the future. What interests are best pursued? What is the end goal? What would be the best path to get there? Cheaney notes a web site, CollegePlus.org, that offers assistance by assigning a coach to each student to develop a plan. In so doing, one may quickly discover that an associate’s degree is all that is needful to enter a certain field.

Another major choice involves the quickly proliferating technical schools that are now available. These quickly focus on specific skills and occupations that can rapidly propel a student into the workforce with a very marketable skill. In conjunction with this, one should never overlook the path of apprenticeship. The U.S. Department of Labor has an actual Office of Apprenticeship, as does every state. Check out doleta.gov and nastad.us to see if these can open the doors of interest and opportunity especially suited to your student. There are opportunities out there to learn and to be paid while one is learning. What a concept.

The biggest challenge of formulating a plan is that youth are seldom blessed with a clear vision for their lives. I firmly believe that having a variety of work experiences is the best school master for helping a young person find their first love. This points out the value of summer jobs, internships, days-with-dad or other family friends, and, yes, even school field trips. Sometimes it takes the actual fire of a welder’s arc or the artful stitching of an open wound to awaken the desire and vision for a young person’s life. My daughter’s experience as a CNA (a short 4 week course through Red Cross) confirmed in her the leading towards a career in nursing. And when they find that spark that can ignite a life-long passion, we will do well not to demean it as less than satisfactory. Diesel mechanics make much more than school teachers from what I hear. The bottom line is that we not measure the worth of any calling by the money or worldly status attached to it. The important thing is to find a calling whereby we meet a need in society that will afford a living suitable to our needs. And regardless of the days spent or not spent in obtaining an education, God still reminds us that wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. That, of course, puts everything in proper perspective.

anybody listening?

But if I say, "I will not mention him or speak any more in his name," his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot. Jer. 20:9 NIV

Have you ever wondered if anyone is listening? Teachers suffer this trauma on a regular basis but manage to put it out of their minds or else they will all become used car salesmen. Parents have to wonder, as well, when simple tasks that should be automatic go undone by their children. Wives know for a fact that husbands cannot recall a thing said over breakfast but that they can recall Roberto Clemente’s life-time batting average. Men would not notice if their male counterparts wore the same shirt 5 days in a row, which is comforting if you are a man. But it is maddening if you are a woman who labors over her choice of a daily outfit only to be totally ignored.

The truth is that someone is always listening, always observing. We have so little clue as to who that is and what gems are being stored away in another’s hard drive of memory. I post a Scripture verse out front most every morning and have wondered if anyone ever reads them. The other day, Mary C------ walked in the front door and made reference to the daily Scripture verse and knocked me off balance by saying, “I read those every day.” I felt as if I had been thoroughly and soundly rebuked!

A wedding invitation came in the mail the other day from a student I had ten years ago in a Bible class during a year of teaching that was permeated from start to finish with spiritual struggle that left me utterly drained. I have put much of that time out of my memory because of the daily fight to keep the plow in the ground and my eyes straight ahead. Doubts flooded over me regarding my ability, my calling, and my message. There were some good times, but the bad times are always more livid in our memories. Anyhow, I felt somewhat awed that I was even remembered with an invitation from a student way back then, but also, there was the scrawled note in the corner: “I can’t believe it’s been 10 years. I still have fond memories of playing guitar with you in Bible class (we sang Scripture songs). Thank you for teaching us God’s truth and striving to prepare us for the real world of ‘not-so-Christian world views.’ I will never forget you. It would be great to see you in May.” A ghost out of Christmas past would not have had any less effect upon me as those few lines. My Scrooge-like memories lost their hard-bitten edge as I was transformed by the thought, “Yes, somebody was listening.” But from there, it is one small step to reflect upon the notion that if my “widow’s mite” worth of witness touched another soul, then how much more could I have done or should have I done with the time and opportunity that were granted?

Once when I was working for TVA, a fellow employee relayed to me how someone else thought I was a bit crazy. I wonder that about myself quite often so I was quite ready to hear additional evidence. Instead, the explanation left me both pleased and scared. It appeared that one of my fellow workers was standing in line behind me in a hardware store as I made a few small purchases. Among those items were some small flashlight bulbs. His conclusion was simple. I must be ‘nuts,’ for anybody could simply walk away from TVA with all the flashlight bulbs they would ever need or want. Why would anyone go out and buy them? That episode haunts me to this day. Someone was watching. They caught me in a good deed for which I was thankful. How many have watched me when I was less than at my Christian best?

Yes, Virginia, there is someone listening, watching, observing. The reminders may be few and far between, but they are there. Our duty is to be faithful regardless of the crowd, the recognition, the response, or those spells of dull and defeating silence. Even a little light defeats darkness. Nay, pierces it.

Work

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him;” Genesis 1:27

Occasionally I will entertain myself by imagining odd uses for everyday implements. What would it be like to use an axe as a fly swatter, a tooth brush as a weed wacker, or a golf club for a windshield wiper? You get the idea: the more ridiculous, the greater the entertainment value. All these tools and implements that surround us and infest our closets and garages have specific tasks for which they are designed. And when we misapply them to inappropriate tasks, such as using a lawnmower as a hedge trimmer, we get in serious trouble or look awfully ridiculous at the very least.

Is it fair to think for a minute as to what we were designed for? Christians everywhere ascribe to the simple statement of faith that we are made in the image of God. That should give us some major clues as to what end we are intended. The first thing we learn about God is that in the beginning He created. No doubt about it. Our God is a creative God. A fresh look about us should be sufficient proof for anyone. From the ant to the elephant, we are surrounded by creatures that defy the imaginations of generations of the most gifted of artists or engineers to ever contemplate designing or building, even if they could do such a thing. Bees that turn pollen into honey, creatures (fish) who thrive only under water, and giraffes who seem almost made for the fun of it; all fill us with a sense of wonder, each in their own right. If that is not enough, just look at humankind. Each of us are so alike that modern medicine works consistently well around the world and yet each of us are so different as to make individual identification a fairly simple process. Identical twins are all the more marvelous because of their rarity yet their own mothers quickly become quite adept in telling them apart.

If we are made in the image of God, we are meant to be creative beings as well. God’s handiwork is a hard act to follow, but each of us, in our own unique way, I believe, is wired with an inbuilt need to be a creative being. Look at children. We dare not even think of locking them in a bare room with nothing to do, like cattle in a stall. Even they, as soon as they can crawl and walk, desperately need something to do with their hands and minds, and so we give them toys, books, and balls. Punishment in our society is to confine children to corners or to their rooms while adults are sent to jail cells. Each of these prohibit freedom of choice, movement, and action which we find horrendous. Animals are often treated this way every day and yet very few suffer any ill effects. But fiction and history are rich in stories of men and women who find themselves locked in cells and dungeons who manage to find creative things to do with their minds in a desperate effort to keep their sanity.

Creativity comes in many forms. We tend to think of creativity only in terms of the arts. I insist that it is much broader than that. To be creative is to be productive. Even the assembly line worker can take pride in a pile of any number of widgets created at days end. Plumbers, auto mechanics, coaches, tailors, housewives, all have one thing in common with the artist: they bring, or create, order out of chaos. God moved upon the face of an earth that was without form and void replacing chaos with order and beauty.

We, too, are meant for that end: to bring order out of chaos, to be productive. To seek a life of lottery-winning ease, to become enthralled by our culture of entertainment, to shun work at any opportunity is to thwart the very nature of our created being. It is to use the axe as a fly swatter, etc. Something will come out damaged in the process for sure. Work is our friend; idleness our enemy.

Callings IX

“We pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power” - 2 Thess. 1:10

Some years ago, John M. Hancock, a Knoxville lawyer, wrote a tribute for man who passed away at the age of 98. His name was Tennyson Walter Dickson, but he was known to his friends as “Slim” because of his tall, lanky stature. Mr. Hancock wrote that Slim “was as much of a positive influence on me as any of my teachers in public school or Sunday School, college professors, ministers, attorneys, judges or anyone else I have ever known in my 41 years of life.” Who was this man who exerted such influence?

John’s first recollection of Slim was as a boy when his whole family went to the S&W Cafeteria on Gay Street for dinner every Thursday night. Slim was one of the waiters there who wore a suit and bow tie, balanced trays on his arms, and poured up glasses of water and milk. In addition to his years of service at the cafeteria, Slim worked as a yardman and gardener for several families in Sequoyah Hills and Holston Hills before donning his suit coat for his regular job at night. Slim worked as such for John’s parents and grandparents and John grew up watching “his meticulous attention to detail, his dedication to service, his humbleness, his gratitude and, most of all, his Christian witness.” He was a deacon and usher at Mt. Zion Baptist Church, but John felt privileged “to see how he lived his life daily the other days of the week, how he sang, prayed, and praised God for the privilege of being able to work. Work to Slim was a true pleasure and opportunity.” Slim worked hard all his life, was never known to complain, and always wanted to find more to do. He worked in the heat of summer and cold of winter, no matter what the weather. “He mowed yards, trimmed bushes, pruned trees, dug ditches, planted flowers, raked leaves, and whatever else was necessary.” He asked for wages so low that most times he was paid twice as much as he asked but which was still lower by far than anything anyone else would work for, if, indeed, you could get them to work at all.

Slim became a part of the family sometimes coming as honored guest and friend. “He prayed many prayers with us in our kitchen when family health problems beset us.” He was there when John’s grandma died and gave the benediction at Grandpa’s funeral. He was the only black man at that funeral and demonstrated that ability to bridge those racial, social, and economic divisions within our society that so trouble us. “I never saw him unless he had a smile on his face. He had that rare quality that allowed him to get along with anyone in any situation.” Just a few years before his death, a roast was held in Slim’s honor at Ramsey’s, a tribute normally reserved for the elite. It was a mark of how deeply his life had impacted the community. Slim came to ask John to speak at that affair with his head bowed and a humble voice. When John said it would be an honor, Slim had to fight back the tears.

Stories like this stir me deeply. It is the story of a man who worked in his calling under the most humble of circumstances and did it as unto the Lord. To him, work was “a pleasure and opportunity.” His character showed through and deeply affected the lives around him. John Hancock, the lawyer, looked to Slim, the waiter and gardener, for inspiration in his daily life and counted it a privilege to know him. And in the end, both city and county officials, pastors, etc. gathered to honor Slim “not for his longevity of life but for the quality of it.” This is the mark of a person who is content and faithful in their calling and who understands that one’s legacy is defined by their character and not their calling. This is in stark contrast to a world blinded by the prestige, power, and pomp of office and station. How often I need to be reminded of this. How much more our children.

Callings VIII

But I trusted in thee, O Lord: I said, Thou art my God. My times are in thy hand. -Psalms 31:14-15

Just when you thought it was safe to make some assumptions about one’s calling in life, I am afraid I have some more disconcerting news. Callings change. Life has its twists and turns, times, and stages. And with these tumultuous events, our callings can also change. David went from being a shepherd to being a soldier and, ultimately, to being a king. God leads us through these times in our lives, and at each stage, we develop skills and take on certain roles wherein we exercise God’s call in service to the Kingdom in uniquely different ways.

While this may fill some of us with hope that one day soon we may be called to move on to something quite different, for many of us change is difficult and threatening. The challenge comes to all of us sooner or later to lay down a calling in life, something we have grown quite comfortable with and good at, to follow a different leading. Moms and dads remember a time when they lived a relatively carefree life as young singles, amiably pursuing studies or the beginnings of a dream career. Then romance and marriage rearranged the center of their lives so that it was no longer the “I” that directed their choices but the “we.” And when children came, it was no longer the “we” but the “they.” Moms, especially, often find themselves having to choose between an attractive career they had carefully prepared for and staying home to do laundry, wipe noses, and run a taxi service. Dads also find their choices become more limited and constraining because their first calling in life has evolved to be that of a father and provider. These choices can be very painful at times. We have all passed by the wreckage of marriages and families where someone felt forced to choose between career and family and made a disastrous decision. The body count is way too high.

When so led, the called man/woman of God will resign and give up his calling with grace and dignity if called to do so by God. This has to be our guiding principle. For young people, their present calling in life is to be a student and learner. At some point, they need to lay that down and enter the workforce. For many of us that was a welcomed change, but some students try to make a career out of school and in the process make a sad caricature of their lives. Once we take on the responsibility of marriage and family, our role as wife or husband, mom or dad, becomes our first calling in life. It trumps all others. Many grand ambitions, at times, have to be laid down to serve this high and holy calling. Doing that with grace and dignity can be one of the most difficult things we ever do. Engineers may end up selling cars, teachers may work an assembly line, or divinity graduates find themselves working in warehouses. While the choices may never be that stark, our priorities must change as our levels of responsibility change.

Likewise, as our children mature and leave, our calling again will change. Nothing is sadder to watch than a mother who will not let go of her children, who finds her only purpose in life in fulfilling that role. We must hold all our callings in life with an open hand whether it be our children, our careers, or our companies and be willing to see what God will call us to beyond these stages of life. This week we observe that time in which Jesus laid down his calling of being a teacher, prophet, and healer to become the sacrificial lamb on our behalf. May we be able to follow His example with equal grace and dignity.

Callings VII

“…for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.” Phil. 4:11-12

“The called man/woman of God is encouraged to embrace difficulty, danger, humility, or success, no matter what might befall them in their calling.” With these few and simple words, the Puritans put an iron rod of discipline into that warm, fuzzy feeling we call our life leading, professional inclination, or God’s call on our life. It is the part of hearing from God regarding a life vocation that is easily ignored or conveniently forgotten. Somehow we tend to focus on the self-fulfillment phase of discovering God’s leading in our lives. I talked to a man this week who takes young people camping and hiking as a full time outdoor recreation director. How thrilling it must be to do what one naturally loves to do and actually be paid to do it. And there is truth there that great joy can be found when operating in one’s giftedness for the glory of God.

But the other side of that picture is that God neither gifts us nor calls us for the joys of self-fulfillment. His callings are for service and His purposes. Self-actualization as a goal in life is perhaps one of the most cruel and poisonous philosophies spread about during my lifetime. It leads inexorably to the bizarre conclusion that, no matter what, God wants us to be happy. From there, all sorts of chaos proceeds.

When teaching our children about seeking their calling in life, the Divine Surgeon General’s warnings need to be firmly in place as well. Warning: your calling in life could entail calculated preparation and tedious study. Warning: your calling in life may entail great danger and opposition. Warning: your calling in life could entail loss and sacrifice. Warning: your calling in life could lead to a life of humble poverty. Who knew God’s call on his life more clearly than the Apostle Paul? And yet, he experienced homelessness, hardship, imprisonments, beatings, shipwreck, nakedness, peril, and ultimately an untimely death. His calling was not about self-actualization but about self-denial. This is a critical factor in following God’s callings for we do not measure the will of God or the validity of our calling by the degree of familial comfort, worldly success, or personal happiness we experience. Politicians are savagely attacked, pastors are beleaguered, teachers are tested, mechanics get bloody knuckles, mothers lose sleep, and missionaries are occasionally and casually martyred. When we know we are in His will, we will endure all things for the sake of the mission. This is what kept Noah working while the world laughed. It enabled David to face Goliath. It filled Shadrach and his friends with courage though the furnace was heated seven times hotter. And it will fill us ordinary folk with the steel we need to survive the rigors of our callings, no matter how strenuous, no matter what the opposition.

And last of all, there needs to be one more important caution. Warning: all degrees of success or fame are equally from God’s hand and are no cause for pride or self-satisfaction. Success can be even more deadly than tribulation. How many have fallen in the midst of personal triumph? Far too many. “The called man/woman of God will equally bear good and evil success as God shall dispense to him. If God prosper him, he had learned not to be puffed up, and if he should be exposed to want, he could do it without murmuring” (John Cotton). May we hide this wisdom in our hearts and those of our children.

Callings VI

“For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant.” -I Cor. 7:22

“The called man/woman of God, in serving God, serves men, and in serving men, serves God.”

In that simple phrase, we can sum up so much of what the early Puritans thought of the concept of a calling in life. It captures the spirit of Scripture so beautifully which says that inasmuch as we have served the least of our brethren, we have done it unto Him (Matt. 25:40). Our desire to serve God is not to be bound up in lives of cloistered penance and prayer. It is to be lived out in the daily market place where we interact with neighbors, friends, and rank strangers. The banker is to serve his customers as one who seeks to encourage and enable parents to provide shelter for their families, to aid businessmen in developing new jobs and opportunities, and to provide means of savings and investments for the future dreams of child and adult alike. Banking should never be seen as a means of personal enrichment and power. The clerk in a convenience store is there to assist the harried traveler with gas and a sticky bun or whatever to make life for the wayfarer more, dare we say it, “convenient” and to protect the assets of the owner. It is all about service to others who could always use a smile and encouraging word to go with that newspaper or cup of coffee. It is not about exerting the absolute minimum effort while counting down the minutes until shift change or foraging freebies at the expense of the company. The professional athlete dedicates his abilities and efforts to the success of his team and uses his public profile as a role model of good character for the greater good of his community. It is not about personal glory and grandstanding or a means of extorting larger and larger salaries to consume upon himself in gratuitous displays of freedom and excess.

When we and our children understand this, our perspective towards our jobs, towards developing our gifts and abilities should be touched, affected, and changed. We come up from the waters of baptism new creatures, regenerated to newness of life. We need to baptize our dreams of work and wealth, of study and education, of success and fame in the cleansing waters of humility and service. We serve God by serving men. Our work, our talents, and our abilities are means of worship to our maker. It is our reasonable service.

In so doing, we lay down our dreams of glory, our preoccupation with personal advancement, and our predisposition to seek positions of status. And the amazing thing is that when we do this, we find that the pressure to succeed that was driving us with such cruel force is gone. Contentment with our station in life is attainable. We discover joy in our labors that we never knew were there, and we can actually draw strength from the most menial of tasks instead of being drained by them.

Perhaps I am becoming a bit repetitious and tiresome in making this point. I risk it because it is the hinge upon which so much turns. To see work as worship, to see our calling in life as a means of service rather than a means to glory is a means of great freedom from the chains of this world’s values. It also restores the dignity of each person as worthy servants before the Lord no matter what tasks they perform in life. There will be those who will have great reward in heaven for the cups of cold water they have dispensed as sure as there will be those who have operated great levers of power and wealth in this life who will find themselves suddenly ashamed. May you find joy in your work this week, parent and child alike.

Callings V

“Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it….” -Ps. 127:1

Believe it or not, there comes a time in the lives of most young people when they discover that they have particular talents and abilities that distinguish them from others their age. Adolescence is a search for value and self worth, and the first steps are generally filled with faltering, timidity, and doubt. But eventually, young people are pleasantly surprised when, to their amazement, they possess a skill or knack for an activity, a sport, an academic field, or a hobby that sets them apart. I remember prowling about our farm buildings as a teenager, armed with a .22 rifle, hunting sparrows. These birds were a plague upon our barns with their incessant nest building that in turn attracted insects and provided a breeding ground for disease. I had free license to use them as target practice at will. They presented a small and challenging target to my simple, open-sighted, single-shot rifle. Many more bullets missed than hit their mark. But one day a friend drove in as I was on one of my wandering safaris, and as we talked, a flock of sparrows flew into a large, barren tree some 150 ft. away. My friend noted them and challenged me to take a shot. It was a long one for such a target, but I had to try. I laid the rifle down across the roof of his car and drew a careful bead. The gun went off, and a sparrow fell straight down onto the chicken house roof. No one was more amazed than I. But I remember the glowing pride I felt as my friend made exclamation after exclamation regarding my skilled aim. There was joy and pride that I actually might have an ability that was just a bit above the average teenager. I later went on to spend four years on the college rifle team sharpening that skill first developed as a non-descript farm boy.

While shooting a rifle had little applicable life consequences, there were other things that did. I remember a compelling interest in science, my first success as a writer, and the thrill of participating in youth ministry. All were early precedents for the life I have lived. While the act of discovery is an important step in seeking our calling in life, there was one step I lacked and omitted out of sheer ignorance. While it may not have seemed like much at the time, I feel it may have been far more critical than I care to believe. When we do get a sense of the gifts and abilities that God has given to us, it is important to dedicate those gifts and resultant callings to God (Rom. 12:1), asking and relying upon Him to “quicken and sharpen” those abilities (Ps. 127:1-2), not relying on our own strength (Pro. 3:5-6).

Why is this important? First of all, it gives the glory to God. Scripture makes clear over and over that the gifts of the Spirit are given for the proper functioning of the body of Christ. So, too, with natural gifts. It is not about us. When we become self-absorbed with an ability and how it magnifies ourselves, we become hard to live with, and the gift itself can be poisoned and become poison to our souls. The greater the gift and the more public the calling, the greater the danger. I believe this selfish preoccupation greatly complicates our psychological ability to cope with the pressures of juggling a talent, a calling, an ego, and the expectation to “succeed.” When we dedicate our calling to God, we recognize Him as the giver of every good gift as given for the purpose of complementing society as a whole. We become grateful for our part to play, and we learn to depend upon Him to breathe life and wisdom into our life work. It becomes no longer a matter of our own status but translates our gifts into a matter of stewardship and service. That perspective can change everything and fire our hearts to pursue excellence for His glory, not ours.

Callings IV

“And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” –Matt. 4:19

The last time I talked about “callings,” I emphasized the importance of a mentor who can impart both a love of a craft but also inspire the discipline required to achieve success within a particular field. While each of us would like to think of ourselves as fairly well rounded and knowledgeable in a number of disciplines, very few of us are actually “accomplished” in more than one or two areas. Thankfully we live in a free society that encourages specialization in areas where we are most gifted. Here is where I really covet the exposure of my children and yours to people who are especially talented at a particular craft and are making a living at it. There is nothing so inspiring as to see a master craftsman at work, to stand in his workplace, and to see his final product whether it be in sales, in teaching, in the factory or laboratory, or down on the farm. I remember falling in love with farming as a boy by experiencing the earthy smell of a warm dairy barn on a cold winter evening, savoring the sweet fragrance of new mown hay being put up in the mow, and watching the rich, moist earth being turned up behind me by a four-bottom plow. My more recent woodworking associations have brought me into close contact with craftsman specializing in various aspects of the craft. Each new demonstration excites in me a desire to learn a new skill and take it to the highest level. “I could do that,” I think to myself, if only I had the time.

Even for those who aspire to a professional, collegiate-path career, I still think it an invaluable experience to be exposed to a professional in their field whose shoulder is in the harness and who can impart the spark of excitement first-hand. I remember clearly the day we took a group of young people through a hospital in the Dominican Republic on a Sunday afternoon. We went in eager tourists to bring spiritual cheer. We emerged shaken, sobered to our core, tears in our eyes, and weeping in our spirits for the suffering of and minimal care afforded to the poor and downtrodden. One teen-ager felt led that evening to declare a leading to enter the medical profession, a field she could easily master. After exploring that avenue fully and turning from it, she is now quite preoccupied with foreign missions. She can’t seem to shake it and has spent serious time in Indonesia and Cambodia among the poor.

Whether it be watching a lawyer ply his craft in the courtroom, following a pastor into a ghetto, listening to a musician perform, or watching a welder create a perfect, steel seam, I am a believer in using anyone or anything to awaken the latent interests and gifts that lie within each child. I cannot do any of these things I just mentioned with a skill level that would inspire anybody. But there are others who can. I desired that my children have those experiences and meet those people who could. My son spent a semester working as an intern at the Tennessee Historical Society and several more weeks at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. He is now an archivist with Vanderbilt University with a desire to do archival work for Wycliffe International. Daughter number one fell in love with the stage at Central High School due to a teacher who worked absolute magic with her choral groups. She went on to perform in every Bryan College play known to man and then became a choral director in the public school system. Daughter number two expressed an interest in nursing but affirmed that decision by a stint as a Certified Nursing Assistant. She is now a mother and part-time nurse with a medical group. My wife became a Spanish teacher through the influence of a high school Spanish teacher who took a special group of students to the sky with her love of the language. Be careful the people you allow your children to associate with. Either that or be purposely reckless. It could change their lives forever.

Callings Part III

"Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings….” Pro. 22:29

So what is your calling in life? This a question we have been looking at for the past few weeks and though even if we may not have managed this question very well in our own life, we owe it to our children to help them get a sense of leading and vision for their lives. It will be something they will struggle with, and they need some guidance besides Parade Magazine’s annual cover story on “How much do people make?” On the one hand, some people make huge occupational choices based purely on mercenary, economic terms. This is neither Godly nor a good recipe for a lifetime of happy, effective service. On the other hand, some follow their love of esoteric subjects without the slightest consideration for how that study would benefit society or provide a living wage. Somewhere between these poles, sound reason and God’s leading should prevail.

I ended last week with a strong exhortation to encourage hobbies in your children. They can be very valuable tools to awaken interests and inclinations. Unfortunately, playing video games does not qualify as a true hobby. Creating them would. But playing them merely enhances reaction times and visual recognition and demands little in terms of creative interaction. So much of our entertainment-obsessed culture is passive in nature. We need to look for things that awaken one’s sense of curiosity, wonder, and creativity. That can be a battle all in itself. I remember my first homemade telegraph set and the first time I took the head off of a lawn mower engine. Those were signature moments in my youth. Exciting!

But once we awaken a gift and discover a leading, we need to exercise ourselves in those gifts and leadings as “a workman that needeth not to be ashamed.” This was a source of failure in my life. I could easily have pursued a career as a research chemist if desire was all that was required. It fascinated me. It was something I was suited for in that I loved tinkering, creating, improvising, and working with unknowns. There was one thing lacking, however. I had failed to learn how to be a good student. If grades came easy, I enjoyed success. If I lacked interest or encountered difficulty, I accepted and learned to live with mediocrity. These were habits I learned in high school which became deadly in college. I quickly became disillusioned with chemistry and quit. I desperately needed coaching and encouragement in learning the discipline of applying myself as a “workman” that labors within his craft.

I have since learned that the mastery of every field of study or every basic skill involves a multitude of failures and calls for a disciplined effort to overcome them. Study, practice, patience, dedication, and consistent effort are involved in any calling. Love and a knack for a particular craft or job or skill is not enough. We have to marry that with the proper work ethic and study skills that can enable dreams to become reality. This is what makes learning to be a good student in grades K-12 so important. Whether it be math or learning to mow the lawn, every task involves a basic discipline. Being submitted to one’s teacher and learning accountability are spiritual battles that temper the soul and prepare it for greater things. What is really wonderful is when we meet a great mentor along the way who will communicate excitement for the task, a love of the craft, but also will encourage us through the learning curve, demanding just a little more than we think we are capable of doing. I pray you will think of yourself as that mentor, that coach, that craftsman, that teacher who runs alongside with both excitement and passion for the subject matter but also one who builds the discipline needed to win the prize.

Callings Part II

“You missed your calling.” How often have we used this phrase in a glib manner not knowing what damage we do. The thought that someone could go through life not operating in their gifts can bring terror to a heart, especially an old one. The whole idea of a ‘calling’ upon a life can become a mental straight jacket that binds instead of guides, that spells doom and failure instead of light and freedom. It is a concept that has to be handled carefully, but I think it is worth the risk for all of us, both old and young.

For the young, it is a challenge to desire before the Lord a place and means of service that would be of benefit to God, man, and themselves. We beseech the Lord for guidance in every other matter of life; why not our vocational choices? But it should be more than lip service. We have grown to expect that no person would ever venture into full time Christian service except that they were absolutely sure of God’s call in that respect. Why should we not desire equal certainty when choosing a career as a welder or a car salesman? When we do, we accomplish a couple of things. One, we place this choice of service upon the holiest of ground and make it a matter of great prayer, entreating the Lord with all earnestness. Secondly, we enter upon career preparation with an attitude that our occupation is to be one of service. What a difference this can make when crawling under a car to change a muffler in December. It can transform the most mundane and onerous task into something akin to ministering a cup of cold water in Jesus’ name. And we all know quite well the rewards associated with that. Thirdly, when we have a clear sense of calling in our vocation, it imbues us with the strength to endure hardship when it comes. The missionary convinced of his calling is willing to risk everything and endure all. So, too, the teacher who is sure of his calling will be able to endure the associated hardships and survive the times of testing amid a thousand and one discouraging doubts.

So, how does one find one’s calling? For some, they know from the very earliest days of their life. I have always envied them. For most of us, it is not that easy. The Puritans urged each to examine himself to see the providence and leading of God through ‘inward endowments and inclinations,’ ‘outward circumstances which may lead to one course of life rather than another,’ the advice of ‘parents, guardians,’ and to ‘nature, education, or gifts acquired’ all pondered ‘in the balance of sound reason.’ Modern man has perfected dozens of tests to reveal to us our inner gifts and inclinations. They are valuable tools. The advice of parents, trusted friends, teachers, and counselors is probably even more valuable but less utilized. Our culture of ‘rugged individualism’ (“I did it my way.”) has undermined this vital resource. How can we encourage our children to hear our counsel; we who know them best? It is an art to foster from the earliest age. They need us and all that we can tell them only too soon.

‘And education and gifts acquired.’ Here is where we preach the virtues of a well-rounded education that exposes students to subjects and activities they have never before encountered. 7th grade shop class opened up a whole world to me that I never knew existed. I learned to draw and work with wood. It stuck. Important, also, are the hobbies we experiment with at an early age. I did my first creative writing in high school. My basement was a witch’s brew of experiments in chemistry. Model trains taught me electricity. Coin collecting introduced me to history. Chess taught me logic. Reading science fiction gave me a love for science. A gun, a dog, and farm fields to wander imparted a love for nature. And making up high school Bible club skits taught me the joys of creative drama. All for free, and all before college.

Callings Part I

“…it is a preposterous and brutish thing to fix or fall upon any weighty business, such as a calling or condition of life, without a careful pondering it in the balance of sound reason.” -Richard Steele, 1684

In last week’s newsletter, I impudently questioned the whole idea of a college education. How ironic that it should come from someone with three such degrees. But I did stress the idea of catching a vision for one’s life. To me it is wisdom to preach the latter rather than blindly follow our conventional cultural stampede, which trumpets the virtues of a college education with no sense of calling upon one’s life. (Our culture presses the value of literacy but has no concept of how that skill should be directed and utilized. Our forefathers taught people to read so that they could, first of all, read the Bible for themselves. Now we teach students to read and offer up a diet of any sensual trash to further their ‘skill development.’ How else do you explain “Rolling Stone” magazine and other such ilk in high school libraries?) Of course, the whole concept of calling has been extensively muddled with time since the Puritans first developed and enunciated this valuable Christian concept. We all have been in church services where someone has come forward to announce they have been ‘called’ into full-time Christian service. Everyone then responds appropriately with enthusiastic ‘amens.’ I have yet to witness someone coming forward to announce that they feel God has called them to be a chicken farmer in South Dakota. I would love to see the perplexed response of the audience if such an event ever transpired. In protestant theology, finding one’s calling as a chicken farmer is just as valid and equal cause for rejoicing as any other.

For the next couple of weeks, I would like to develop the theme of ‘finding your calling’ in these pages. It is a Puritan concept that bears examination and has been largely lost in our time. I, for one, feel that for every one time we mention ‘going on to college’ in conversation with our children (which in our house was quite often), we need to mention ‘vision’ or ‘calling’ just as often or more so. We are bending these young twigs and unashamedly so.

Our first calling is to ‘take hold of the eternal life to which you were called’ (I Tim. 6:12). We are to make sure of our spiritual calling and seek to ‘flee from the wrath to come.’ But after that, we have a temporal calling, a place of service, where we walk in a way that is beneficial to society and ourselves. The second request of the prodigal son was for the father to make him one of his hired servants. It should also be our desire to find a place of service in God’s kingdom. And here is where we often err. The whole Protestant Reformation overthrew the concept of ‘higher’ and ‘lower’ callings. All labor, whether secular or sacred, was thereafter seen as equal before God. To be a monk, nun, or priest was no different than any secular profession as to favor in God’s eyes. As William Tyndale put it, “…there is difference betwixt washing of dishes and preaching of the word of God; but as touching to please God; none at all.” The Puritans taught that God calls every man and woman to serve Him in some ‘peculiar’ employment in this world, both for their own and the common good.

I love the idea that education and all ensuing occupations are not just private choices to enhance our own status and well-being. We should never applaud a young person who desires to be a doctor because it would bring them wealth and prestige. It must be approached as a place and means of sacred service both to God and to man. Equally so, it should be the same with would-be plumbers, dental hygienists, beauticians, and, yes, chicken farmers. How often do we place vocational counseling in the context of Phil. 2:4, “Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.” If we have not, is it not time?

Vision

There is an ominous story I have been hearing repeatedly which may or may not be what you want to hear. It is in regards to the new economic horizon developing out there in a world some have been calling increasingly “flat” because of the growth of a global economy and the internet. I can tell you stories of young people going off to college and spending four years and considerable treasure to get a degree which is largely unmarketable. They then struggle finding jobs and end up in food service or various entry-level positions they easily could have taken right out of high school. The worst-case scenarios involve students who have accumulated mountainous debt while pursuing that supposedly ‘magical’ college degree.

There are many good reasons for going off to college and pursuing a liberal arts education that never translate into economic well-being. It opens your eyes to another world that exists beyond the level of high school proms and pep clubs. It exposes you to people who think deeply about things and love books and learning on a grand scale. And if pursued successfully, a college education sharpens the mind in countless ways and deepens ones understanding of the world around us. That is never a bad bargain. That is one big reason we urge our students to follow or pursue the university path. We have had no regrets in sending our children off to college, yet I am torn for young people today who feel the pressure to go to college and “amount to something” even if they have no clear vision for their life. Some end up “finding themselves” in college, but far too many pile up nothing but debt and frustration and set themselves up for keen disappointment upon graduation.

The other side of this story involves some very bright and gifted young people who have either shunned or dropped out of college and taken jobs in the general business sector. These Christian young people applied themselves in an honest and forthright manner and soon found themselves prized employees because of their values and work ethic. Before long, they were managers of stores and directors of companies. As cream rises to the top, these young people rise quickly in the ranks if for no other reason then that they don’t steal, do drugs, and lay out of work whenever it pleases them. I can’t help but compare these success stories to those just graduating college encumbered with debt and inflated expectations that can never be realized.

We are living in a changing world. A college degree used to come with guarantees. It no longer does. For those who can afford it without strain and debt, it is seldom a regret. But beware of those who sell college dreams and want you to become their indentured servant for the next ten plus years with easy loan on top of easy loan. It can be as deadly as an internet scam letter. Yes, I want to urge all our students to develop all the academic prowess they possibly can while they are in school and to aim high. But I pray that they will also seek a vision for their life. That comes through reading, working, hobbies, experiences, watching skilled people in action, and seeking the Lord. A young person with a clear vision will overcome all obstacles and not waste time in the process. Secondly, I pray they will develop Godly character. In a world that has lost its way, nothing will ensure success more than just good, Godly character. It will make a way for them when all else fails. One day, the meek shall inherit the earth. How often do I not see them inherit the company when everyone else lives but for themselves.